Letendre, Steven E., R. Perez and J. Elling. (May-June 2006 CE). Solar Vehicles at Last? Solar Today, 20(3):26-29. http://www.solartoday.org/ The entire issue is devoted to "What Is Ahead in Sustainable Transportation? There is an increasing trend toward vehicle-integrated PV (VIPV) applications - that is use of PV for buildings and vehicles. Steve Lapp, Canadian engineering professor has retrofitted a Prius with 270 watts of PV capacity and additional battery storage.
That 270 W is roughly 1/300th the power needed to run a Prius. Very roughly, if you park it outdoors in Phoenix for a week you might be able to drive it for five minutes. Whoop-de-do.
The vehicle is a Prius I. UC Davis and others have modified Prii way beyond the Prius I. 2008-2009 Prii are expected to be PEHVs, with extended electric-only ranges of 100 to 150 miles. Several entities are working on Lithium-based batteries (vs. NimH) with greater discharge and recharge capabilities.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ May 3 2006, 12:11 PM) [snapback]249105[/snapback]</div> That's not correct. The Prius takes about 250WH to drive a mile at over 60mph. At 40mph it only takes about 160 WH. So for every hour parked in good sunlight, you could drive a little more than a mile. (Or conversely, you could drive at about a walking pace continuously during peak daylight under solar power only). See http://privatenrg.com/#Bill_Moores nerfer
